"You ready?"

"I think so" I replied to Luke as I passed him my tote bag with all of my stuff in it. "I just need to go say bye to my mum then we can go"

"I'll put this in my car" I nodded and walked downstairs and into the kitchen where my mum was.

"Luke and I are leaving now"

"OK. Have a good time, honey. Message me when you can to let me know how you're doing" I nodded. "Love you"

"Love you too" I quickly hugged her.

"And you" I turned to see Luke stood in the doorway, smiling. He walked over to us. "Look after her for me"

"I will" He said and my mum surprised him by pulling him into a hug.

"I'll see you two in a few days" She said, hugging me one last time before we left the house.

"Your mum's cute" Luke said as pulled out of the driveway.

"So's yours"

"At least they support our relationship" Our friends still weren't overly supportive of us even though it had been a good two weeks since they'd last brought anything up.

"So, who else is coming?"

"Celeste, Jack, Ben and Ben's friend, Hollie"

"Just friends?"

"According to Ben"

"Bullshit"

"That's what I said"

"I'm so tired" I told him.

"It's only 4 o'clock"

"I didn't get much sleep last night"

"Why? Someone on your mind?" He flipped his imaginary long hair as he continued driving.

"You wish. But no, I just couldn't sleep. I'm kind of nervous about this to be honest"

"Why?"

"Because you and I didn't used to get on very well and your family knows that. I've never really been close to your family that much either. I'm just worried they won't like me when they get to know me"

"They'll love you just like me"

"Shut the fuck up"

"You don't love me?" He pouted, quickly glancing over at me.

"You're so annoying"

"But you love me"

"True" He smiled. "So, how long's the journey?"

"Like an hour and a quarter"

"Ugh"

"Go to sleep. Especially if you're tired"

"I don't want too. I won't sleep tonight"

"Babe, just sleep if you're tired"

"We'll see. If I stop responding I'm asleep"

"Or dead" I hit his arm.

"I'm driving!" I rolled my eyes before slouching in my seat.

****

"Is that Maddie?" I heard someone ask as I woke up.

"Yeah, she was tired" I kept my eyes shut.

"How are you guys doing anyway?" I recognised the voice more. I think it was Jack. We must have arrived at his beach house.

"We're good"

"And how's everyone else?"

"Annoying. None of them support us"

"To be fair you guys never got on very well"

"We do now though"

"I'm glad you brought her"

"Me too"

"Come on, let's go inside. We ordered Chinese food" Nothing was said after that. I heard a door shut, filling the car with warmth again. I suddenly felt cold again before feeling someone shake me. I pretended to wake up before seeing Luke beside me.

"We're here" I smiled slightly and stretched before getting out of the car. Luke insisted on carrying our bags before locking the car and going into the house. I followed him and saw Ben, Jack and Celeste as well as another girl who I assumed was Ben's friend Hollie.

"Maddie" Celeste greeted me as she hugged both Luke and I. Luke then hugged Ben whilst Jack hugged me. I hugged Ben as Luke sat down on the love seat. I went and sat next to him before grabbing us both a plate from the centre of the table.

***

"Want to take a romantic walk along the beach?" Luke asked as we led in bed just cuddling.

"Tomorrow"

"Mads, it's only seven thirty"

"I'm tired"

"Babe, let's do something"

"Can we watch a film?"

"There's so much more to do than sit in here"

"Lu"

"Don't Lu me. Let's go something"

"Fine. Let's go get ice cream" Luke was already up before I'd finished the sentence. I quickly changed my sweatpants to jeans as did Luke and buttoned the top few buttons on my flannel, well Luke's flannel, so you couldn't see my boobs and pulled my converse on. Luke had finished getting ready too.

We left the house and walked down the steep steps to where there were a few shops. Luke stepped into the ice cream parlour with me following closely behind.

"Luke! You're back again" Someone said as soon as we both stepped up to the counter. There were only two other people in the shop.

"Hey, Jenna" Luke said. Jenna looked to be in her late 30s, maybe early 40s.

"Back so soon?"

"Jack invited us down"

"Us?" She glanced at me, raising her eyebrows.

"Oh, this is my girlfriend, Maddie"

"Nice to meet you, I'm Jenna"

"Jenna's my dad's brother's wife" Luke clarified. I nodded.

"It's nice to meet you too" I replied.

"Why didn't you tell me you had a girlfriend last time you were here?"

"We were in between statuses"

"Well, what would you two like?"

"Chocolate chip cookie dough" We both said at the same time.

"Cute" She said before starting to scoop our ice cream into cups. "I'll bring them over" Luke left the money on the counter before guiding us to a table round the back of the place.

"This reminds me of the road trip"

"Me too"

"Here you go" Jenna placed the two cups down on the table.

"Thank you" We both said as she'd walked off.

"She seems nice"

"She is. She's always been there for us. Plus it's always been nice to escape to her house down here, well before Jack got his place" I just nodded.

"What are your after school plans?"

"I have no idea. I've applied to a few colleges"

"Dude, you didn't tell me"

"I was gonna tell you when I actually got in somewhere"

"You'll get in"

"Hopefully"

"Not sure if I want to know or not but where have you applied?"

"Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide"

"Which is your favourite?"

"Brisbane"

"Oh"

"Mads, it's not that far"

"It's like 15 hours driving. I haven't got the money to fly out to see you that often"

"It'll work out. What are your plans anyway?"

"I have no idea. I don't think I want to go to college"

"Why not?"

"I just want to get on with my life not waste another three years learning shit. I want to try and get a paid internship or something"

"Doing what?"

"Not sure. Maybe journalism or fashion"

"Have you found anywhere to offer you something?"

"Not really. There's one place in Sydney that actually pays well and a couple in Melbourne"

"Have you looked in Brisbane?"

"Not much"

"We could move somewhere together"

"I'm not sure if I want to leave Sydney. I just want to move to the city rather than living in the suburbs"

"Oh"

"We'll work it all out, Lu. It'll be fine"